Palestinian Statehood | The American Task Force on Palestine

The Palestinians and the Arab Spring
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Wall Street Journal
by Adbdullah II bin Hussein - (Opinion) January 19, 2012 - 1:00am

Amman A year has passed since the Arab Spring began to change our region, showing the determination of Arab men and women, especially youth. But a key issue remains unresolved: peace between Palestinians and Israelis. This month, in Amman, the parties sat across the negotiating table for the first time in 16 months. What message will the United States now send to them and to the people of the region?

Palestinians to Renew Efforts for Bid to U.N.
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Times
by Ben Birnbaum - January 19, 2012 - 1:00am

RAMALLAH, West Bank — Palestinian officials say that they will resume their effort to gain U.N. membership, and that they could launch a nonviolent third intifada because they see no chance of reaching a peace deal with the current Israeli government. The Palestinians had put their U.N. bid on hold to participate in informal Jordanian-sponsored talks with Israel that began at the beginning of the year in Amman.

Rick Santorum’s Views on the Middle East
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Al-Arabiya
by Ali Younes - (Opinion) January 19, 2012 - 1:00am

In a town hall meeting during a recent campaign stop in Greenville, South Carolina, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum said to me, in response to my questions, that he supports attacking Iran with missiles, rockets and other weapons in order to stop it from developing nuclear weapons. On the issue of the Palestinian–Israeli conflict he added that the issue is an internal Israeli matter and that Israel can do whatever it wants and no one should interfere in its internal affairs.

Fayyad Still Trying to Create State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Jane Eisner - (Opinion) January 13, 2012 - 1:00am

I was last in Ramallah a year and a half ago, and the change since then is striking. The headquarters of the once-feared Palestine Liberation Organization had been on the second floor of a nondescript office building above a furniture store; now it is in a gleaming office tower adjacent to the sprawling compound of the Palestinian Authority’s president. I’m not sure there is reason to fear the PLO anymore, but the organization certainly has a better address.

Israel, Palestinians Must Let Go of Justice and Join Reality
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Salman Masalha - (Opinion) January 13, 2012 - 1:00am

The poet Taha Muhammad Ali, who recently passed away, revealed to us in one of his poems that it took him 60 years to realize that "water is the best of drinks / And bread is the tastiest of foods." Someone who takes so much time to understand reality can be tolerated. He's allowed to be backward and learn slowly; he'll write poems about that. But it's different when we're talking about the backwardness of a nation, and how much more so, its elected leadership.

EU on Verge of Abandoning All Hope for a Viable Palestinian State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Independent
by Donald MacIntyre - (Editorial) January 12, 2012 - 1:00am

The Palestinian presence in the largest part of the occupied West Bank – has been, "continuously undermined" by Israel in ways that are "closing the window" on a two-state solution, according to an internal EU report seen by The Independent.

Ayoon Wa Azan (A Palestinian State is Attainable After 2013)
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Dar Al-Hayat
by Jihad El-Khazen - (Opinion) January 11, 2012 - 1:00am

American policies, both domestic and foreign, are a hostage of the U.S. elections, a stand-alone American industry much like the auto and hi-tech industries. Presidential elections are held every four years, along with elections for the House and a third of the Senate’s seats (in addition to local elections of every kind in the states). Then the winner in the presidential elections in November would have barely entered the White House in January, when he has to begin preparing for the U.S.

How will it all end?
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Susan Hattis Rolef - (Opinion) January 8, 2012 - 1:00am

In recent months the press has been flooded with articles by left-wing writers, including former Knesset Speaker Avrum Burg and author A.B. Yehoshua, who have argued that long-=standing Israeli settlement policy in the Territories has rendered a two-state solution irrelevant. The only remaining option, they say, is a single state west of the Jordan River.

The Granddaddy of Dumb Ideas
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Slate
by Aaron David Miller - (Opinion) January 5, 2012 - 1:00am

It can’t, won’t, and shouldn’t happen. Such are the sad prospects of the Palestinian plan to achieve statehood through membership in the U.N.

The U.N. Should Accept Palestine as a Full Member State
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Slate
by Katy Waldman - (Opinion) January 4, 2012 - 1:00am

Dr. Mustafa Barghouthi is gentle and soft-spoken, as befits a Palestinian leader known for his commitment to nonviolence. Currently Barghouthi, a medical doctor, serves as the general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative, a political party based in the West Bank that seeks to provide moderate Palestinians with an alternative to what many consider Fatah’s corruption and Hamas’ extremism. “Politics can drive you to wrong decisions and wrong feelings, sometimes,” he told me during our phone conversation last week.

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